So, for this post, I will be both talking about the concepts discussed in class, as well as something that is near and dear to my heart. But first; Da-sein.
This idea of Dasein has changed for me over the course of our discussions during class. At first I thought it was simply the lens through which we see the world around us, shaped by our interactions and our life experiences. It would explain why someone who comes from a rich British family who has problems feeling loved by members of their own family would see life differently than someone who lives in the slums of Africa and has to prostitute themselves to make enough money to keep the family they care about alive. So after this class, I remain a bit confused as to what this idea of Da-sein really and truly is. So I decided to try and sum it up in a sentence. Or at the very least, a paragraph.
Da-sein is our understanding of the universe. At the same time, it is who we are. Our good qualities, our bad qualities, our loves, our hates. Everything we are is rolled into one singular idea. Some call it Da-sein, I prefer to call it a soul.
So what happens when that Da-sein is over? What happens when it is gone? That's what Death is. We narrowed down in class that Death is the end of that Da-sein. It is not the absence of Da-sein, but the absolute end of it. So when you die, you can never come back. So this brings up some interesting questions and arguments. Can you experience Death without being dead? No, you cannot. Without being dead immediately following Death, it isn't really Death according to our definition.
So now onto the part of the blog that is near and dear to my heart. As some of you may have heard, I have a dear friend of mine who has a heart condition called Transposition of the Great Arteries, where her heart valves are swapped. This has tons of medical implications, and has caused her much suffering over the years. She was told from a young age that she would not live past puberty, and today she is 24 years old. She is a medical miracle in my book and in the book of every doctor she's ever been to. If you want to learn more, check this link: http://www.childrenshospital.org/health-topics/conditions/transposition-of-the-great-arteries-tga (as you can see, it's on a children's hospital website) How does this relate to our discussion? Well, as I mentioned in class, this woman has had Death thrown in her face more than anyone I have ever met. So therefore, she lives within that class of people who look at life as a mere inch from Death, rather than most people who live their lives thinking they are immortal. I value her opinion because it brings me back to earth, and she helps me re-evaluate who I am on a daily basis.
It’s interesting how much we evaluate life, and how we decide to live it when we have death right in our faces. I also prefer to call everything we are a soul, instead of Da-sein. All of who we are is made up of experiences that we have had that are unique us. We will on occasion find people who are very similar, probably because they have had similar experiences that have shaped them into someone with a similar understanding as us. Do you think though, that there is a possibility of our intelligence continuing to exist, even after there is no mortal body to host it? I know that many people do believe in the existence of something not physical, but spiritual, that also makes up who we are. Just like we don’t fully comprehend what death is, since we haven’t experienced it, could it also be possible that we don’t fully comprehend who we are, and what it is that makes us who we are? It’s always interesting to think about. Most of know things because we have experienced them, so we may not truly know or understand what death is until we experience it. It just may be however, that we will have some form of existence in order to understand what death is after it has happened to us.
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation of Da-sein is slightly different than yours in that I see it as something a bit more static, concrete. I see it more as a form or mode of being itself. Or, more specifically, the human's understanding of their being. I think this because, as Heidegger somewhat says (I think ... everything I am saying is 'I think' ... Heidegger is one of the most confusing individuals) there is also a form of being that is a being's being among other beings (to talk like Heidegger), and he calls this form of being 'mitda-sein'. And, as I assume, there may be other individual, autonomous, stand-alone forms of being, and the fact that Heidegger labels them with different terms for being (he doesn't just refer to any form of being - whether it is completely spiritual and individual, or if it is one's relationship and interactions with a group - as being. As stated he has different words for the different modes of being) this shows that da-sein, in itself, is a mode, rather than a specific instance, of being. Those are my beliefs, at least.
ReplyDeleteFor starters i would like to point how good I believe you understand the concept of Da-sein. My group was the one who presented that day, so coming to grips of understanding the concept was hard enough. Even harder was attempting to simplify it to where others can understand it easily. As for you i believe your overall summary of Da-sein was a good one, and i like how you summed it up by saying you believe that Dasein is essentially our soul.
ReplyDeleteMy only thing is that if thats the case then it conflicts with the concept of how we believe when you die its ends the totality of your Dasein .The reason why is because if they're truly is an afterlife whenever we die our soul would continue to live on therefore dying would not be the totality of our existence. This however is only assuming that you believe in the afterlife.
Also you talking about your friend in class, seriously made me have a paradigm shift in my view on death, which I constantly keep changing. I went into the class with they they mentality, during the class I shifted into accepting of death and utilizing it like you do to motivate me. However after the end of class I went back into the they mentality because the overwhelming talk about death was getting to me.